Iranian president orders review of internet filtering, warns public dissatisfaction will backfire

Iran’s President Massoud Pezeshkian has instructed the country’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace to form a working group to review the lifting of internet filtering, citing public dissatisfaction as a key factor in the decision.

During a council meeting on Tuesday evening, President Pezeshkian stated, “Continuing internet filtering, given the widespread dissatisfaction it has caused, is unacceptable.”

“Decisions that do not satisfy the public could backfire, eroding social capital and posing security challenges,” he warned.

He instructed the working group to urgently examine various aspects of the issue and present their findings at the next council meeting.

He noted that surveys indicate the goals of the filtering policy have not been achieved and stressed the need for all governing bodies to reach a common understanding on the issue.

President Pezeshkian highlighted that governance should not be based solely on assumptions without considering public satisfaction and stressed the importance of understanding how society perceives the decisions made for their lives.

Iran has blocked access to many popular websites and online services, with the Internet Filtering Committee, headed by the prosecutor general, deciding on access to which websites must be curtailed. This has led many internet users to turn to VPNs, which, according to unofficial sources, cost people millions of dollars annually.

Removing the years-long internet filtering was one of the campaign promises of President Pezeshkian.

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